Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $13.32 Million Holdings in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 11.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 469,059 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after selling 63,034 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.33% of Murphy Oil worth $13,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Headlands Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the 4th quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $58,000 after acquiring an additional 471 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 18,060 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $513,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Murphy Oil by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 19,916 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $603,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on MUR. Mizuho lowered Murphy Oil from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Murphy Oil from $27.00 to $26.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $24.00 target price on Murphy Oil and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Murphy Oil from $36.00 to $22.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Murphy Oil from $24.00 to $22.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $29.08.

Murphy Oil Stock Performance

Shares of Murphy Oil stock traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $23.11. The company had a trading volume of 2,261,888 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,338,636. Murphy Oil Corporation has a 1-year low of $18.95 and a 1-year high of $43.02. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $22.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.74. The stock has a market cap of $3.30 billion, a PE ratio of 8.89 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.69.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.48 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $665.71 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $684.89 million. Murphy Oil had a net margin of 13.47% and a return on equity of 6.81%. The business's revenue was down 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Murphy Oil Corporation will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Murphy Oil Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $0.325 dividend. This represents a $1.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is presently 50.00%.

Murphy Oil Company Profile

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964.